A Japanese kamikaze came swooping down from the sky in the pre-dawn hours of January 8, 1945, and headed straight towards their ship. Landing Ship Tank 912 was en route to Lingayen Gulf for the invasion of Luzon in the Philippine islands. “I heard him and then I saw him coming in,” Navy communications specialist Tom Zimniewicz remembers. But there was a bogey on its tail- an American Navy Black Widow fighter was following right behind the enemy plane with its guns firing. Tom dove under a truck on the deck of the ship for cover, as the “Val” clipped the back side of the LST, and killed four crew members. The burial at sea of their shipmates was a somber affair, and it was perhaps divine providence that the other 460 men on the LST were uninjured.

Navy Mobile Communications Unit 402 was sent ashore with an Army construction battalion and landed at the beachhead of south Luzon, where they would spend the night. Tom dug a foxhole on the beach to escape the flying shrapnel. However, the Army unit that they landed with chosen to move further inland, and suffered major casualties as a result. Stationed in the farm country outside Manila, it was the job of the MCU men to lay the lines to enable ship-to-shore communications. They had 400 pound transmitters and receivers that had to be transported through rugged terrain. The heavy equipment had to be kept away from interference and from each other, and then connected by cable wire to operate. It was a busy station, and “the phones were always ringing,” Tom recalls. He developed a relationship with the local Filipino guerillas, and they made him an honorary officer. They accompanied him on his forays into Manila where the road was still active with snipers, and Tom saw the destruction of the city firsthand. It was reduced to rubble. After months of this hectic duty, Tom volunteered to be part of the invasion force destined for mainland Japan. He was on a ship in the Pacific awaiting orders when the bombs were dropped, and the war ended.

After several months of duty in occupied Japan, Tom returned home to Chicago, finished college, and married Mary. They raised their four kids, and now have six grandkids. Tom spent his career as a stockbroker for David A. Noyes & Company for over fifty years, and he still works for the company today. He is very pleased to be making the trip to Washington with Honor Flight to see the World War II Memorial. Honor Flight is pleased to have this sailor aboard, and we thank him for his service!

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